Won a race once. AND DON'T YOU EVER FORGET IT

So. Last weekend’s race. Lets put it like this: I finished 13th. Which was the most apt place I could have ended up.

Got to the race site in Liverpool with loads of time to ride the course before the vets race, but discovered that there was nowhere to park the car. At all. It was so packed, in fact, that I drove the entire length of the park-side road to a dead end, then had to perform a million-point-turn to end up facing the other way so I could escape.
In the process of doing so I reversed the car into a (admittedly pretty large) rock. Damn it!

I still had plenty of time though, so I started driving back the way I’d come, only to end up caught behind a modern day mexican stand-off, as two drivers wanting to travel in opposite directions both refused to do any reversing (the road was only 1 car wide due to all the parked cars). This took forever to sort out, even with everyone pointing in the same direction as me highlighting the fact that there was nowhere for the other car to go. Damn it!

Finally parked up (miles away) I got the bikes ready and walked to the start, still with enough time to watch most of the vets race and get a decent warm up done. while standing around I noticed something on my front tyre. It turned out to be the innertube sticking out of a big rip in the carcass. Damn it!

Back to the car I ran (OK, walked). Dug out a spare tyre, fitted it and rode back to the start again to catch the end of the vets race and warm up. As I got there I noticed that the tyre didn’t feel the same as it had when I’d left the car. A quick check revealed I’d punctured the tube. Damn it!

Back to the car I ran (OK walked, again). Dug out a spare tube to go in the spare tyre and rode back to the start with just enough time for one practice lap before the start.

Start started I finished the 1st lap down in 20th place, then took forever to make any overtaking moves stick by consistently cocking up (Damn it!) and letting everyone back past me. Thankfully however, the bike remained in one piece, with all the inflated bits staying inflated and free of holes and, once I’d learned where I was going, I managed to make up a few places, finishing in 13th (with my last lap being my fastest).

I’m hoping for better things at the next round, suffice to day!

Sunday saw Angela, Jacqui and me ride the Cumbrian Cracker sportive (I’m not usually much of a “sportive rider”, but I’ll make an exception for this one because it’s held in winter(ish) and doesn’t seem to have as many idiots entering it).
Jolly nice it was too. A nice route, fairly quiet roads (admittedly we set off after most riders, so that’s not too surprising), plenty of sandwiches and cake (ahem) halfway round and plenty of time to chat in between the bigger hills. What more could you ask for?
It even had some very fluffy cows…